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WORCESTER'S NORTH END 

THE NATHAN PATCH HOUSE 
THE HENCHMAN FARM 



•*i 



CHARLES A. CHASE 



i 




WORCESTER'S NORTH END. 



THE NATHAN PATCH HOUSE. 



THE HENCHMAN FARM. 



Two Papers reao 1!i:kork the Worcester Society of Antiquity on 
November 4, 1002, and Deoemher 2, 1902. 



5/ 



v/ 

^ 



(^HARLES A. CHASP:. 



I'KESS 0¥ CHARLES HAMILTON 

No. 311 Main S t r k e t . 

1903 . 



i 




J12^\ 



In Bxchang9 

I.niev. Anr. Soc. 

25 J.' 1907 



THE NATHAN PATCH HOUSE AND NORTH 
END OF MAIN STREET. 



An unpretentious house of two stories, which had stood 
at the south corner of Main and Market streets for nearly 
one hundred and twenty years, has just been demohshed. 
Its only peculiarity was the frieze of the door-finish, re- 
markable for its bass-relief of a human face. The door- 
frame entire is now in the Museum of this Society.^ The 
frieze is an example of English renaissance of the time of 
the Georges, or the architecture which in this country is 
called "colonial." Pediment ornamentation is often found 
in old colonial work, but is generally much simpler than 
in the case before us. The use of glass, in a frame in the 
form of a geometrical arc resting upon a chord, is quite 
common. Sometimes the ornament is a wreath. Heads 
are rare, but our talented architect, Mr. Stephen C. Earle, 
has shown me an illustration of a head on the east interior 
wall of Indei)endence Hall at Philadelphia, from which it 
is possible that this Worcester head was copied. Who 
was the carpenter or architect who reproduced the 
Philadelphia head in Worcester, is a question which it is 
doubtless impossible to answer. He never dreamed that 
in the twentieth century his handiwork would be deposited 
as an historic relic in the basement of a substantial brick 
edifice out on what he would have called ''Mr. Salisbury's 
farm." 

The owner of this house, for whom it was built, was 
Mr. Nathan Patch. While a resident of Ipswich he had 



1 The gift of the Society's greatest beuefactor, the Hon. Stephen Salisbury. 



married Lucy Adams of Worcester, on Dec. 26, 1760. He 
probably came to Worcester about twelve years later; for 
his first purchase of real estate was a farm of two hundred 
and fifty acres in the north part of the town, next to the 
Holden line, on Jan. 8, 1773. His children, apparently six 
in number, were probably born before his coming here, for 
none of their names appear in this town's record of births. 

The lot on which this house stood was at the southwest 
corner of a tract of three and one-half acres, conveyed to 
Mr. Patch by Daniel Heywood on May 10, 1783. This 
tract was part of a forty-acre lot granted by the Proprie- 
tors "for the minister at Worcester," May 20, 1714.^ In 
some way which I have not been able to discover, the forty- 
acre lot came into possession of William Jennison soon after 
his coming to Worcester from Watertown in 1725 or 1726. 
Mr. Jennison, it may be said here, became at once a very 
prominent citizen, holding many town offices and frequent- 
ly presiding at the town meetings. Although he was not 
trained to the law he was made one of the Justices of the 
Inferior Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions on 
the organization of the county in 1731, and held the office 
during his life. 

After Mr. Jennison's death so much of his estate as lay 
on the east side of Main street '^ running nearly to Summer 
street, was sold on execution to Jacob W^endell, who con- 
veyed it to Mr. Jennison's four sons-in-law, Thomas Stearns, 
William Johnson, David Baldwin and Luke Brown, and it 
was partitioned among them. Thomas Stearns bought out 
the other three, and conveyed most of it to Samuel Brown, 
who sold it to Abel Heywood, son of the first Daniel Hey- 
wood. After Abel's death there was a partition of his 
estate, and the south portion of this Jennison tract was 
assigned to his son Daniel. Daniel Heywood conveyed it 



• Proprietors' Records, p. 72. 

'' The probate inventory of Mr. Jennison's estate included one lot of ten acres and 
seventy rods on the east side of Main street, bounded west by the road, south by 
Heywood, east by Chandler and north by Thomas Stearns. 



to Nathan Patch in 17S3. The Main street line was four- 
teen rods, and the tract extended easterly nearly to Summer 
street. Mr. Patch very soon began to build the tavern- 
house, now called the Exchange Hotel, which was com- 
pleted in 1784. He was its proprietor until 1793, and 
during the interval built the dwelling-house of which we 
are now treating, which was his home until his death in 
the summer of 1808. His will names the following children 
and heirs: Hannah March (widow of Tappan); Sarah 
Porter (widow of Samuel); Lucy Patch; sons Henry and 
Joseph, who with Theophihis Wheeler were executors of 
his will; and the children of a deceased son Joshua. To 
Sarah Porter he gave the house in which he Hved, with the 
lot now stripped, running back on "the lane to tanyard" 
as far as the ''east line of barn yard shed" or, according 
to subsequent conveyances, about one hundred and four- 
teen feet. Mrs. Porter lived in the house, or the north 
part of it, until her death in 1858. In May, 1835, she 
conveyed to Osgood Bradley the fee of the south part of 
the estate, the line running through the front door and to 
the rear of the lot. 

In Mrs. Porter's will, probated Aug. 2, 1858, she left 
remembrances to her grandson William (son of Nathaniel), 
and her granddaughter Mary (daughter of Rufus and wife 
of Sewall Holbrook). Her real estate she left to her son 
Samuel A., and daughter Frances H. Putnam, one-third 
each, and the remaining third to her daughter Eliza (widow 
of Jeremiah Healey), and the latter's daughter Harriet 
Draper. Sanmel A. Porter bought Mrs. Putnam's share 
in 1860, and the other share in 1863. Mrs. Draper as Miss 
Healey taught some of us our a h c's in the httle "North 
Infant " school-house, 22 by 22, on the west side of Summer 
street near its north end. 

Mr. Porter sold his half of the Main street lot to Harrison 
Bliss in 1863, and three years later the latter bought Mr. 
Bradley's portion, selling the estate at the same time to 



Samuel Stratton for $12,000. Mr Stratton's face was a 
familiar one on that corner for more than thirty years, 
but for a few years past he has lived with a daughter on 
Forest street. 

The latest events in the history of this estate are the 
conveyance by Mr. Stratton, in July last, to Mr. Charles 
L. Gates, and a deed from Mr. Gates to the Worcester 
Consolidated Street Railway Company, 

In the tracing of a title like the foregoing, through the 
Registries of Deeds and of Probate, one finds a variety of 
collateral information and calls up a host of personal remi- 
niscences. "The lane leading to the tanyard," mentioned 
in Mr. Patch's will, was laid out by himself over his own 
land. His daughter, Mrs. Porter, called it "Tanyard 
street," and I can remember when in the mouths of men 
and boys it was styled "Pig Lane." When it became a 
town street, extended to Summer street, it was called "Old 
Market street," ^ for the present Exchange street (originally 
called "Columbian avenue "), was then called Market street, 
and so styled as late as 1843, when the "York House" 
on the south corner of Main street, with the Worcester 
Bank building next south, were destroyed by fire. It was 
probably only a little later that Market street became Ex- 
change street, and Old Market street ceased to be called 
"old." 

I have often wondered why School street should have 
been so named; but my recent investigations have solved 
the problem. The Patch tract extended on Main street to 
a point about one hundred and twenty-five feet north of 
School street. Mr. Patch subsequently purchased the land 
on the south of this, and in 1808 the executors of Mr. Patch 
sold to Moses Wing a lot on the north side of "Terry street." - 



' Mr. Thomas C. Rice, in the Sunday Spy of Nov. 9, 1902, says that the name (Old ) 
Market street came from a market which was kept, at one time, in the back part or 
half-basement of the tavern. Mr. Rice's article gives a valuable tjeographical and 
historical description of Himeleck, or Mill, brook through its whole course. 

■^ Book 172, 1). 47. 



In 1816 the administrator of David Curtis's estate sold to 
Levi Howe'' a tract bounded on the north by ''lane to tan- 
yard," on the east by ''lane to School-house street" and 
on the south by Schoolhouse street. In November, 1820, 
Elijah Burbank, Oliver Fiske, Jeremiah Robinson, William 
Eaton and Theophilus Wheeler, — all prominent citizens, — 
sold to Henry M. vSikes^ a lot on the north side of the 
street, with a building which they had previously bought 
to maintain a private school. This school evidently gave 
a name to the street. Mr. Sikes three years later conveyed 
the lot to Alexander Gaspard Vottier, the French follower 
of Napoleon, of whom you have been told in the papers 
of Major Stiles, Mrs. Sturgis, Henry H. Chamberlin and 
others. I have never seen any other reference to the 
school referred to in this deed. Mr. Patch was himself 
one of the group of fifty-six citizens who established a 
private high school on Main street in 1784, which was 
continued for some fifteen years. 

The tannery of which mention has been made, was on 
the east bank of Mill Brook, just north of the present 
Market street. The bark mill was run by power furnished 
by the brook. In 1815 it was advertised for sale, and was 
apparently abandoned soon after,— taxed to death. The 
main building was converted into a dwelling-house and so 
became the "Tanyard House" described in the paper by 
Major Stiles. ^ The writer used to follow the course of 
the brook from Lincoln square to School street in the early 
"forties," on his way to Thomas street school, and there 
was no trace of a tannery at that time. 

Mr. Patch's will gave to his daughter Lucy "the estate 
in possession of Mr. Henderson." This was the "Green 
store," so called, just south of his residence. It had been 
moved on the lot from the east side of Union (or Middle) 
street, where it was built for a factory. The following 



' Book 201, p. 524 '^ Book 222, p. 307. 

' Proceedings of this Society for March, 1900. 



named gentlemen, in 1789, had formed an association for 
the purpose of manufacturing cloths: Daniel Waldo, Daniel 
Clap, Joseph Allen, Levi Lincoln, Samuel Flagg, Samuel 
and Charles Chandler, Abel, Peter, Cornelius and Thomas 
Stowell, John Stanton, Isaiah Thomas, Samuel Brazier, 
Nathaniel Paine and Daniel Waldo, Jr., all of Worcester; 
and John Sprague of Lancaster. The land was bought, 
partly of the Messrs. Chandler and partly of Nathan Patch, 
and reverted to them on the discontinuance of the factory 
about two years later. 

To Hannah March, widow of Tappan March of Sutton, 
Mr. Patch gave "the estate on which David Curtis lives." 
This was the house on the north corner of School street, 
built by the Hon. Joseph Allen, father of Judge Charles 
Allen. [Mr. Curtis was grandfather of George William 
Curtis, and afterward lived on the east side of Lincoln 
street.] Mrs. March's son Andrew later established a bak- 
ery on the premises, and we are told by Lincoln that on 
Sept. 11, 1834, "the house, bake-house and barn of Andrew 
March, at the corner of Main and School streets, took fire 
about midnight and were destroyed. Loss S3,500." 

Mr. Osgood Bradley, who bought half of the Patch house 
in 1835, was a pioneer car builder of the United States. 
He was at that time engaged in the manufacture of stage- 
coaches, omnibuses and wagons on the south side of School 
street, selling out in 1839, and, with Edward B. Rice, 
establishing the car factory near Washington square which 
is still conducted by his descendants. It is said that he 
made some cars on School street for the Boston and Worces- 
ter Railroad, perhaps the first cars made in this country. 
The need of a larger plant led to his removal. In 1845 
Mr. Bradley bought the fine mansion on the present site 
of the "Chase building" on Front street. 

Of Nathan Patch himself I can find but little more to 
say. He was a large holder of real estate, and it is evident 
that he was public spirited. His name was presented by 



the Selectmen at a town ineeting in March. 1777, as one 
of nineteen citizens whom "the}^ esteemed enemies and 
dangerous." The next town meeting struck out his name, 
cutting the hst down to eight. If he sympathized at one 
time with the tories he was in the same boat with some 
of the leading citizens of the town. 

Mr. Patch sold his tavern in 1799 to John Farrar. Mr. 
Farrar conv(»yed to Thomas Chandler and Daniel Chip in 
1804, subject to a lease to William Barker, which was to 
terminate on May 1, of that year. During that lease it 
was sometimes styled "Barker's tavern." Clap sold in 
1805 to Samuel Johnson, who ran the hotel, but died soon 
after, and his administrator conveyed to Reuben Sikes in 
1807, after which it was known as the Sikes Coffee House, 
and became famous as the halting place for the stage- 
coaches which, under the management of Mr. Sikes and 
Levi Pease, plied between Boston and New York,^ and 
which later radiated in all rlirections from Worcester. Gen. 
Washington was a guest of the house in 1789, and the 
Marquis de Lafayette breakfasted there in 1824. Its later 
history will Ije found in ''Reminiscences of Worcester," by 
the late Caleb A. Wall, printed in 1877. And here I wish 
to pay tribute to Mr. Wall for his most valuable services 
in compiling that work and the subsequent pamphlets 
treating of the old estates and the old residents of Worces- 
ter. The amount of labor required in liis task can only 
be appreciated by those who have followed similar lines 
of original research, and if he was led into a few errors, 
the only wonder is that they were so few. 

In dealing with the old north end of Worcester village, 
we are treating of what was its social centre. There John 
Hancock owned a large estate, to which he was doubtless 
a frequent visitor.^ The first Levi Lincoln became the 
owner of a part, and the first Stephen Salisbury of the 

' See Lincoln's " History of Worcester," pp. 317-320. 

2 The Henclunan and Hancock estates will be the subject of a future paper. 



10 

other part of the Governor's farm. Judge John Chandler 
(the second Judge), built the house now standing at the 
northeast corner of Lincoln and Belmont streets. Daniel 
Waldo, father and son, and later the second Levi Lincoln 
occupied the house as tenants of the Chandler family. 
Where State street terminates on Court hill lived William 
Jennison; and Isaiah Thomas's house, now standing in the 
rear of the Court House, originally stood upon the Court 
House grounds, the original Court House being just north 
of it on part of the same grounds. Nathaniel Paine and 
his son Timothy lived on Lincoln street. All whom I here 
name were not contemporaries, but they were all of the 
eighteenth century. On the east side of Main street, be- 
ginning at Lincoln square, were Samuel Andrews the tanner; 
Timothy Bigelow the patriot ; Judge Edward Bangs ; ^ Jos- 
eph Lynde, father and son; Rev. Joseph Wheeler, Register 
of Probate, and his son and successor, Theophilus Wheeler. 
Then came the Patch estate, and the homestead of Joseph 
Allen. Beyond, to the south, was the great Hey wood farm, 
on both sides of Main street, extending nearly to Mechanic 
street. 

Just south of the Jennison house, on the west side of 
Main street, was the home of Dr. Elijah Dix. Here most 
of his children were born. His daughter, named (for her 
mother) Dorothea Lynde Dix, the famous philanthropist, 
was born in Hampden, Maine, in 1802. Here lived for a 
time, during the occupation of Boston by the British, the 
family of Gen. Joseph Warren, one of the heroes of Bunker 
Hill.^ South of the Dix house came the Heywood farm. 

I must not omit to speak here of the little building which 
stood in front of the Jennison estate down to 1840 or later. 
In the upper part a private school for tender youth was 



' His son, Edward D. Hangs, was for twelve years Secretary of this Common- 
wealth. 

■■' For particulars concerning the families named in this connection the reader is 
referred to Lincoln's " History of Worcester" : and Wall's " Reminiscences." 



11 

for several years inaiiitaiiied by Mrs. Jonathan Wood.' 
Mrs. Wood taught previously on the ]3resent site of the 
building of the AVorcester Gas Light Company, about op- 
posite Central street, and lastly at No. 2 School street, 
where we used to go on Saturday afternoons to receive at 
her hands books from the library of the Worcester Lyceum. 
She was a charming lady. 

CERTAIN WORCESTER STREETS. 

Although this paj^er has to do chiefly with the Market 
street neighborhood it may not be amiss to treat briefly 
of some of the other streets, especially of those on the east 
side of Main street. 

A way from Lincoln square to the first burial-]:)lace at the 
present north corner of Summer and Thomas streets, was 
''prickt" across land which William Jennison and Thomas 
Palniei- afterwards sold to John Chandler, and came to be 
known as "Back street." It was so called in the town 
records as Late as 1806, but in 1828 was known by its present 
name, Summer street. In 1809 the executors of Nathan 
Patch conveyed to Reuben Sikes a tract of seventeen acres 
and ninety-three rods, "the Frost hill lot,"^ on the east 
side of "the road leading from the North meeting house 
to Grafton." This included the Insane Asylum lot, and 
was bounded on the south by "the road from the South 
meeting house to Capt. Wilham Gates's house." The 
"North meeting house" was the church of the First Uni- 
tarian Society at the present north corner of Summer and 
Heardsleigh streets. The "road from the South meeting 
house" was laid out in March, 1724, to accommodate the 
farmers near Lake Quinsigamond. [Pleasant street was 
laid out in the same year.] 



1 My remembrance of its location is confirmed by Henry M. Wheeler and her 
nephew, Major Frederick G. Stiles. 

2 So named because Samuel Fn.st was there publicly executed on Oct. 31 1793 for 
the murder of Elisha Allen, of I'rinceton. ' ' 



12 

Mechanic street as far as Church street, and inchiding 
the latter to Front street, was opened on the sale of }:)art 
of the ministerial land in 1785. A year later a committee 
was appointed and made sales of some thirteen acres east 
of this tract, and Mechanic street was continued to and 
through Bridge street to Front street. AYhen it was chris- 
tened by its present name I do not know. 

On Nov. 3, ISOG, in town meeting it was 

Voted, that the town do approve and allow of a town way 
or street laid out by the selectmen through the land of 
Isaiah Thomas, Esq., and Capt. Daniel Hey wood by the 
name of Thomas street, and Voted, that the thanks of the 
town be given to Isaiah Thomas, Esq., for his generosity 
in giving the land for said street and building the bridge 
and making the street in complete repair to he travelled 
on without any expense to the town. 

On Nov. 22, 1819, the town accepted the report of the 
Selectmen laying out as a street or town way, the street 
leading from Main to Back street and called School street, 
which had been previously a private way.' 

Central street was established as a town way in May, 
1833, "and as it appears from the records of the town 
that the road leading from Thomas to School street bears 
the same name," the said road was named (for the first 
time) Union street. Union street was extended from 
Thomas to Mechanic street in 1841. 

In August, 1846, the town laid out and established a 
public street from Main to Summer street, called indiffer- 
ently Market or New Market street. It had formerly ex- 
tended only to the Blackstone canal, and had been known 
as Columbian avenue. Now Exchange street. 

The present Market street, in which we are now 
most interested, was established by vote of the town on 
Nov. 8, 1847, accepting the street as laid out by the select- 
men. The east line started at a point on Main street "seven 



^ Mr. Patch, in a deed, had called it Terry street, and Mr. Terry, not to be outdone 
in courtesy, had called it Patch street. Mr. Terry also called it Centre street. 



13 



/ 



feet and three inches northerly of the northwest corner of 
the underpinning of the house owned and occupied by 
Mrs. Sarah Porter, and forty-three feet southerly of the 
southwest corner of house occupied by Phinehas W. Wait, 
and ran S. 77^° E. 500 feet and S. 75° E. 360 feet to Summer 
street. The road is thirty feet wide, so that the south- 
east corner of the hotel is considerably within the lines 
of the street. Mrs. Porter was awarded two hundred and 
forty dollars for land and for the expense of moving a house 
in rear of her dwelling, which was over the line. To Sally, 
Eunice and Clarissa Sikes (owners of the hotel property), 
no damages were awarded, but they were allowed the right 
"to maintain the buildings now on the land as they are 
and until the same shall be rebuilt or removed." The 
street has been laid out for fifty-five years, and the hotel 
still stands in its old place. 

Main street, according to Lincoln, was used as early as 
1674, and constantly travelled over since the final settle- 
ment in 1713. 



OLD LINCOLN STREET.— THE DANIEL HENCHMAN 
FARM. 



The traveller who might have journeyed from Boston 
to Springfield some two hmidred and fifty years ago, would 
have passed very near the spot where we are now assembled . 
If he had paused in his path over the present Institute 
road, at a point just north of the present site of Mr. Salis- 
bury's dwelling-house, and turned his eyes to the eastward, 
he would have looked across the meadow of Mill Brook 
upon a beautiful hill clothed with the primeval forest. 
Perhaps he would have asked himself the question. What 
is to be the future of this peaceful tract; whence are to 
come the people who shall settle it; and how shall it be 
divided among them? The reports of such journey ers, 
that here was "a meet place for a plantation," led, after 
a few years, to the settlement of "Quinsigamond." 

I purpose here to treat of that section of the future 
village upon which the eyes of my supposed traveller 
rested, — to tell who was its first owner, of some who came 
afterward, and how the land was subdivided. This matter 
of land titles is perhaj^s not one of general interest, but it 
is of some value withal ; and the present owner of a house- 
lot on Lincoln street or its neighborhood may not be averse 
to being told something about those who owned it before 
him, and how he may trace his title back to the Indians 
who were settlers here before tlie white man came. 

There is, in my mind, no other section of Worcester, ' f 
eriual area, about which there is so much of interest ai d 
even of romance as the one of which I am speaking. Among 
those who had to do with the first settlement, whether as 
members of the committees appointed by the General 



16 

C(nirt, or as the first settlers, Daniel Henchman shared 
with Daniel Gookin in prominence. Gookin's name was 
first on the original committee, but it was Henchman who, 
in 1G84, formed the plan for a re-settlement; and the 
second allotment of lands was made by his order and 
only with his approbation. 

Henchman died in 16S5" (Oct. 15). More than thirty 
years after his death this minute was entered on the "Pro- 
prietors' Records " : — 

"WoRCESiER, October 3d 1716. By order of the Honour'' Committee, 
laid out to the Heirs of mr. Daniel Henchman fiveteen Ten acre Lotts 
on the East side of mill brook in Worcester. Country road runing thro 
some part of it as signified in the platt : with a Town high way running 
thro sd land in some convenient place, bounded westerly by sd brook 
in part & partly by comon, bounded partly north bj- land laid out on 
the right of Daniel Turell,' every way else by the undivided land as it 
is signified on the platt 

Surveyed by David Haynes." 

Two years later, there was laid out to "the heirs of 
Capt. Daniel Henchman deceased," two hvmdred and 
seventy-nine acres westward of Prospect hill, thirty and 
one-half acres on the north side of Holden road, and one 
hundred and four acres joining to said Henchman's house- 
lot and on the east and south sides of it. The grant of 
this last tract made up two hmidred and fifty-four acres 
for the Lincoln street estates 

To find out who were "the heirs of Daniel Henchman," 
and how their respective shares passed, involved many 
visits to the registries of deeds and of probate in the coun- 
ties of Suffolk, Middlesex and Worcester, much searching 
of the records in those places, and no little embarrassment 
in solving the knotty problems which were presented. 
1 le work had never been done before. 

Mr. Henchman left no will. He was survived l.\v his 
Wi e Mary, sons Richard, Hezekiah, Nathaniel, Daniel [2], 
anjd daughters Susannah (who married John Harris) and 

> |rhis Turell land was assigned to " Thomas Palmer, Esq., Messrs. John Oulton & 
Coiyelius Waldo " Oct. 10, 1718, and later became a part of the Paine farm, lying 
north of the homestead, " The Oaks.". 



17 

Jane (who married James Varney). His estate was pro- 
bated in Suffolk county, and his wife and the two first- 
named sons were his administrators. 

Richard Henchman conveyed his share of his father's 
estate to his nephews Daniel [3] and Samuel (sons of 
Hezekiah), and Samuel afterward sold to his brother 
Daniel. This Daniel [3] now assumes prominence in the 
ownership of the estate; for besides his getting the share 
of his uncle Richard, he was heir to that of his father Heze- 
kiah; and his uncle Nathaniel in 1731 conveyed to him 
"all rights in all land of my father Major Daniel Hench- 
man in Worcester." 

Susannah (Henchman) Harris in 1725-6 sold to Isaac 
Burr two-sevenths of 600 acres. (Her father, the pioneer, 
owned other tracts in Worcester than the one of which we 
are treating). 

Now Daniel, son of Hezekiah, our Daniel par excellence, 
had a cousin of the same name, the son of Daniel [2]. This 
other Daniel (a shipwright of Boston) sold to James Varney, 
Jr., ''my share, or one-eighth, of all my grandfather's land 
in Worcester"; this in 1730. 

As Jane Henchman had married James Varney, the 
ownership of this Lincoln street farm, as it may be called, 
was now in the hands of Daniel [3] Henchman, Isaac Burr, 
James Varney in right of his wife, and James Varney, Jr. 

In the year 1741, before the conveyance from Sanmel 
Henchman to Daniel [3], the owners signed an agreement 
requesting Henry Lee, Daniel Hey wood and Benjamin 
Flagg,— men of probity and prominence,— to divide the 
estate into four parts of equal areas or value. This par- 
tition was made, and a plan was made of the fom- sections, 
all crossing the country road or Lincoln street, with the 
dividing lines nearly parallel with tlie original north and 
south boundary lines of the whole tract. The north tract 
was allotted to the Varneys, father and son, the south tract 
to Isaac Burr, and the other two to the two Henchmans. 



18 

We will now follow the north tract, which began at 
about Harrington avenue and extended to the top of the 
hill, including the Paine homestead lot.^ 

James Varney of Boscawen, N. H., deeded one-half of 
the tract to John and Lydia Hancock in June, 1763. It 
would appear that this was the James Varney, Jr., pre- 
viously mentioned, and that his deed to Timothy Paine 
conveyed only his share of the estate of his father and 
mother, and not his original share bought by the shipwright. 

James A^arney by his will, approved Jan. 31, 1732 (Suf- 
folk), left his real estate to his son James, his daughters 
Jane, wife of John Tudor, and Bethesda, wife of John 
Aaron Boardman, and the children of his daughter Mary, 
wife of David Sigourney.^ It appears that by the death 
of Bethesda Tudor her share passed to the other Varney 
heirs. I find deeds from John and Jane Tudor to Timothy 
Paine of four-thirtieths, and from James Varney [2] to 
Paine of seven-thirtieths. Four-thirtieths belonged to 
Mary Sigourney's heirs, and the remaining half to John 
and Lydia Hancock. 

The time had come for a partition of this land, antl in 
1787 commissioners ap})ointed by the Supreme Court of 
Judicature set off to Timothy Paine 9 acres and 67 rods 
on the west side of the street, bounded north on his other 
land, west by land of Waldo, and south by the Kelso road;^ 
also 26 acres and 133 rods on the east side of the road, 
bounded north on Timothy Paine and Dr. Green, east on 



1 The boundaries of the several tracts as given in this paper are approximate 
rather than exact. From the data furnished and the references, it would be easy 
for a surveyor to determine the bounds. 

2 Grantlson of Andrew Sigourney the Huguenot pioneer of Oxford. 

" In 1765 the town accepted as a private way a road laid out by the Selectmen to 
accommodate John Kelso, beginning at his house (which was somewhere west of 
Lincoln street and south of Millbrook street), and "extending southerly across the 
plain of Timothy Paine, esq.," to the land of heirs of Cornelius Waldo, thence 
through said heirs' land to the heirs of Thomas Hancock and the land of Mr. Var- 
ney to the country road. Kelso bought his farm of John Oulton. In 1796 he had 
sold the principal part to Timothy Paine, and this bridle road was discontinued. 
It entered Lincoln street on about the line of the present Frederick street. 



19 

Millstone hill and south on a tract allotted to the Sigourney 
heirs. 

To Lydia Hancock the commissioners gave one piece of 
5 acres and 5 rods, ''west of the great road," bounded 
north on the Kelso road, south on said Lydia's other land 
and west on Cornelius Waldo; also 15 acres, 157 rods on 
the east side of Lincoln street, bounded south by Lydia's 
other land, east on Millstone hill and north by land set off 
to the Mary Sigourney heirs. 

To the heirs of Mary Sigourney was allotted a strip on 
the east side of Lincoln street of 6 acres, 95^ rods. This 
included Forest avenue and the tier of lots on its north 
side; it was 7h rods wide on the street and about 140^2 
rods, or some 2321 feet deep, running back to Millstone 
hill. This peculiarly shaped tract was conveyed by Ben- 
jiuiiin Jepson and Mary (wife), Elisha Sigourney, Peter 
Lemercier and Mary, and Daniel Sigourney (heirs of Mary 
Sigourney late of Boston), for £60 lawful money, to John 
Knower in 1782. In 1848 it was sold by John A. Knower 
of Accomack County, Va., and Jane Wygatt of Balti- 
more, grandchildren of John Knower (by their attorney 
Rejoice Newton), to James H. Wall and Edward Hemen- 
way. These grantors were probably the children of John 
A. Knower (son of John), who was born in Worcester on 
Feb. 12, 1774. 

We will now take up the central portion, about one-half 
of the Henchman farm, which, as we have seen, became 
the property of Daniel [8] Henchman, extending say from 
Harrington avenue to a little below Kendall street. His 
daughter Lydia had married Thomas Hancock of Quincy. 
Daniel [3] Henchman, by his will ])robated-in Suffolk, 
March 6, 1761, left this Worcester i)roperty to his son-in- 
law Thomas Hancock and Lydia his wife, i. e., an undivided 
half to each.* The title proved not to be entirely satis- 

i In the tirst " returne of Lotts at Quaiisicmund survaid by Dauiil Fiske Surruayr 
don about the midst of April 1G75," were incUuled, "on the north side of Conecktitut 
road" [Lincoln street] westerly from the lake, grants to Benjamin [Thomas?] Hall 



20 

factory, for we find in the Worcester Registry of Deeds 
the petition of Thomas Hancock and Lydia his wife, to 
His Excellency Francis Barnard, Esq., Governor, etc.. re- 
citing the facts of the former agreement with Varney and 
Burr, saying that before any deeds of division were signed, 
James Varney, Sr., died, and Samuel Henchman had 
conve3^ed to Daniel [3]; but said Daniel, accepting the 
division as final, ''immediately proceeded and erected a 
large dwelling-house and barn on his share, and at large 
expense made considerable improvements on his lot"; 
wherefore they petitioned the Governor and General Court 
to ratify the agreement. After reference to a special com- 
mittee a Resolve was reported, which passed the Council 
Feb. 24, 1763, and the House on the following day, con- 
firming and establishing the division made Nov. 10, 1741. 
Thomas Hancock, by his will probated Aug. 10, 1764, 
after disposing of certain lands in Boston and New Hamp- 
shire, gave "all the residuum of my real estate to my nephew 
John Hancock"; and Lydia Hancock, by will probated 
Nov. 21, 1777, gave all her real estate to her nephew John 
Hancock. So this signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence and future Governor of Massachusetts, became a 
landed proprietor of Worcester. 



of 25 acres, Davul Gookin 50, Samuel Gookin (son unto Caj)!. Gookin) '25, Symon 
Meylins 25, Ephiaim Curtis 50, Capt. Daniel Henchman 25, and Dr. Leonard Hoarr 
(President of Harvard College, who had died the month before) 25. The only ones 
Of these who built houses under these grants were probably Ephraim Curtis and 
Thomas Hall. [Our President, Mr. Crane, thinks Mr. Hall built the first house in 
Worcester.] These grants were surrendered or lapsed from the failure of the 
grantees to build thereon. Although Capt. Henchman died at Boston, it seems 
probable that he hatl a resilience here, perhaps on the tract which he had selecteil 
(though not then owner of the fee), and where his grandson, the Boston book- 
seller, erected the honse which, as we have seen, passed to Gov. Hancock. The 
store of Daniel Henchman [3] was at the south corner of Washington and State 
streets, in Boston, /'. e., " Cornhill " and " King " street. 

The " Memorial History of Boston," //. 434, says:—" Daniel Henchman is called 
by Thomas the most eminent and enterprising bookseller that appeared in Boston, 
or indeed in all British America before 1775. Books were printed for him in Lon- 
don and Boston. It is alleged that the first Bible printed in America was printed 

for him He built the first paper mill in New England, and in the intervals 

of his engrossing occupations bore his full share of the public burden like a good 
citizen." By his will he gave his Boston residence on Court street, west of the old 
Court House, as a parsonage for the Brattle Square Church. 



21 

The petition of Thomas Hancock fixes the time when 
the ''Hancock mansion" ^ was built as shortly after 1741. 
Gov. Hancock sold the farm, "150 acres more or less," to 
Levi Lincoln the first, for £1200, April 26, 1782, and Mr. 
Lincoln lived there until his death, April 14, 1820. It is 
uncertain to what extent, if at all, the house was ever oc- 
cupied by the Hancocks. For several years prior to its 
purchase by Mr. Lincoln it was occupied by Samuel Wood- 
burn as a private hotel, and there is little doubt that it 
was visited, at least, by Gov. Hancock and his wife in the 
summer time. In a published memoir of John Hancock 
I find reference to a letter from him at Washington, ad- 
dressed to "Mrs. Hancock at Worcester or Boston." 

We have seen that the southern quarter of the Hench- 
man farm became the property of Isaac Burr. Mr. Burr 
was the second settled minister of the church in Worcester, 
and filled the pulpit for twenty years, from 1725 to 1745. 
His residence was at the south corner of Main and 
Pleasant streets. 

Mr. Burr sold to Thomas Stearns in 1730," one-quarter 
of 224 acres," "the Hinksman farm," with the dwelling- 
house and barn standing thereon. At this time there had 
been no legal division of the tract, but there was evidently 
a tacit agreement as to how the division should be made. 
This Thomas Stearns was son of John Stearns, an early 
settler. He married a daughter of William Jennison, was 
landlord of the "King's Arms," and was a large owner of 
real estate. He sold to the County a lot on the west side 
of Lincoln street for a jail. He sold to John Chandler, 
Jr., in 1733, 40 acres, "with the house where he now dwells;" 
and the remaining 38 acres, in the rear, at the same time 
to William Jennison, who conveyed again to Mr. Chandler 
in 1739. 
This John Chandler was second of the three of that name 



I Now stainling at the southeast corner ot Grove ami Lexington streets, removed 
there from its original site. 



who wore the ermine in Worcester County. His father, 
who continued to reside in Woodstock after he became 
Judge, I call for distinction, Woodstock John. The second, 
who built the house still standing on the premises, who 
held high offices here from 1731 until 1762, I call Worcester 
John, and the latter's son John, who succeeded to the 
military, municipal and some of the judicial offices of his 
father, I call Refugee John. 

The mention of the name of Chandler tempts one to 
launch out into an account of this remarkable family and 
the important part which they played in the affairs of 
Worcester. But their history has been given by William 
Lincoln, their kinsman Dr. George Chandler, and others. I 
cannot refrain, however, from calling attention to a touch- 
ing and pathetic letter addressed by the refugee's daughter 
Lucretia, the wife of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, to her daughter, 
Mrs. Donato Gherardi, which, with comments by Mrs. Ban- 
croft's grandsons Horace and Andrew McFarland Davis, is 
printed with the "Proceedings of the American Antiqua- 
rian Society," for October, 1900. How the south portion 
of the Henchman farm was saved to the heirs of the 
refugee may be seen by a i)aper ujwn "Land Titles of the 
American Antiquarian Society," printed with their Pro- 
ceedings for October, 1001.' 

I have said that the history of this "north end" of our 
town was full of interest and of romance. My work, how- 
ever, has been to deal with matters of fact. The romance 
and even the i)athos are set forth more fully in the work 
of other writers. 

The deed from Thomas Stearns to Judge Chandler con- 
veys to the latter a tract of land with "the house where 
he now dwells." I am satisfied that this house is the one 
now standing at the corner of Lincoln square and Belmont 



' Pages 383-4 and foot-notes, betiinuiiig with tenth line of page 383. 




23 

street.* At the death of ''Worcester John" in 1762 it 
would become vacant. I discovered in the records of the 
Supreme Court at Boston a copy of the will of this Judge 
Chandler, which had escaped the notice of his biographers, 
and of which there was no record in the court over which 
he ])resided in this county.'^ By this will and subsequent 
grants and conveyances his whole farm passed to his grand- 
son Samuel Chandler, who died in 1813, but had removed 
to Vermont several years previously. A deed from his ex- 
ecutors to Edward Bangs, of the ''Polly Whitney lot'' on 
the east side of Lincoln street bounds the lot on the south 
by the "garden and mansion house late of Samuel Chand- 
ler." In 1782 it was occupied by the first Daniel Waldo 
and probably until his death in 1808. Tt was occupied by 
the second Levi Lincoln for two or three years after his 
marriage, and in 1819 was sold by Samuel Chandler's exe- 
cutors, with a large tract running up Belmont street on 
its north side, to Capt. Peter Slater,^' who turned it into 
a hotel. Capt. Slater sold it, in 1819 to Carey Howard 
and WilUam H. Howard. 



^ 



1 Wall's " Reminiscences " states that Worcester John built and occupied the 
house afterwards owned by Edward Earle, east of Summer street and south of 
Heardsleigh street. But he bought this land some five years later than the date of 
the Stearns deed. 

In a notice of Charles and Samuel Chandler, sons of the refugee and grandsons 
of " Worcester John," which was read by Gov. Lincoln before the Worcester Fire 
Society in April, 1862, the ex-Governor says that the Earle home was built by 
Samuel Chandler. He also makes it clear that Worcester John's " spacious and 
substantial mansion," " having an extensive yard and beautiful lawn in front," 
was the building at the corner of the street and square, confirming my contention. 
The yard and lawn were in later times thrown into the square. Samuel Chandler 
could not have built the Earle house earlier than the very close of the 18th century. 
After the death of his father he came into possession of his grandfather's home- 
stead, the " mansion house " at the corner. Gov. Lincoln adds that it M'as occupied 
for more than thirty years by Mr. Waldo, senior. Mr. Lincoln lived in the house for 
several years after Mr. Waldo, and unquestionably was acquainted with its history. 

2 A copy has since been filed in the Probate office here. 

3 One of the " Boston Tea Party." See Wall's " Reminiscences," pp. '211 and 340. 



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